Musings From the Weekend: An Uphill Battle For The Little Guys

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

And now we wait on Dale Coyne Racing to announce its IndyCar lineup. Some drivers went to dinner. Some drivers did not. Patricio O'Ward spoke up. There will be one fewer Porsche in the 24 Hours of Daytona. There will be one more Toyota and three more NASCAR drivers competing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener. Guenther Steiner was fired and Gene Haas is tired of being humiliated. Kyle Larson did show up at the Chili Bowl, but he didn't make it pass his preliminary night as Logan Seavey won for the second consecutive year. Mahindra's Formula E started the season being stupid. The Dakar Rally had a marathon stage, and a rest day. However, it is a series that will not be competing, and one that might be, that are on my mind.

An Uphill Battle For The Little Guys

Last week ended with the stunning news that the Superstars Racing Experience would be postponing its upcoming season, though five of six races had been announced for the fourth year of SRX competition. In the press release, SRX stated the reason for the decision as "market factors that have proven to be too much to overcome." 

SRX has not closed its doors entirely. The 2024 season has only been postponed, and the series did state it was actively exploring strategic options for its long-term potential. 

The uphill battles for SRX had been well-known. Any startup faces a wealth of problems right off the bat. They might have enough momentum to get off the ground, but that hard part is staying in the air. It was almost a running gag each week about how tight the series was on spare parts and replacements. An abundance of accidents in one race strained the series and risked the level of competition at succeeding weeks. 

Though there were those concerns, SRX did complete three full seasons, each consisting of six races, without any significant shortage leading to a decrease in quality on the racetrack. At no point did the series scale back from the usual 12 drivers starting down to nine or ten because it did not have enough cars ready for the following week. 

It was a series run under a tight budget, but it was still able to make the races happen at short tracks across the country, and attract quality guest drivers in the process. Not only did it put on races, but it drew viewers as well. In its first two seasons on CBS, it was averaging around a million viewers each Saturday night, nothing staggering, but respectable compared to IndyCar and even Formula One in the United States, and better than IMSA. The move to ESPN and Thursday nights was always going to see a decline, switching from network to cable, but it had its own time on its own date. It revived "Thursday Night Thunder," and everyone bought into the nostalgia. 

It might have been only 12 cars and six weekends, but it costs pretty penny to organize any motorsports series. It still requires sponsorship dollars and television dollars, and a lot of them. For all that SRX had going in its favor, it had plenty of hangups. 

For all the pomp of an all-star series, the series never said why it mattered. While there were always seven or eight full-time drivers, the attention was always on the drivers dropping in for a night or two. Nothing wrong with that, until it was time for the finale. What did these six races mean? Why did they matter? Why should we care? Every year, the championship, the crescendo, fell on deaf ears. The champion was mostly forgotten, even though he had been around for all six weeks. 

Year four could have been the chance to show people why to stick with the championship, give it meaning from beginning to end. We will never know. 

Oh, there is a chance SRX returns, but the 21st century is not meant for a series like that. 

Heck, even Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Truck series has gone mostly dormant though it is widely praised for its action. Stadium Super Trucks ran only two events in 2023, supporting the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the IndyCar race from Nashville.

You may have hope, because in the days prior to SRX's announcement, it became public that Ray Evernham and Rob Kauffman had purchased the brand rights to IROC, the International Race of Championship, which contested 30 seasons from 1974 to 2006. Evernham said the plan is to run a vintage type race sometime in 2024. 

You should be easy with that hope because in all likelihood we will not see IROC as we knew it from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. This isn't going to be a four-race championship run in companion with NASCAR and IndyCar weekends. What Evernham has done is bought control; the ability to promote vintage IROC races at historic race weekends while also able to cash in on printing vintage t-shirts for the attendees. A new series, an IROC revival, is not going to be what you expect. For starters, Evernham doesn’t even have any cars, which are kind of important to an automobile racing series. 

There is too much competition and not enough money for an all-star series to work in the 21st century. 

It is what killed the original IROC the first time. When Crown Royal went away, the series went away. There were better options out there to sell products. Four weekends is nothing when spending millions of dollars. Exposure was limited, and could easily be missed when races are spread over many weeks. In the final years of IROC, it was many months. There was no desire to be apart of that when the same company could spend just as much and be on a NASCAR Cup race 12 times a year or sponsor a full-time sports car program. It also made it more difficult to attract drivers. 

With Crown Royal plastered all over the vehicles, drivers with the other alcoholic beverage sponsors were not going to participate. The same conflict of interest exists today. It is difficult to sell as a race of champions if champions cannot compete due to sponsorship. 

SRX had the right model. It had a fairly neutral title sponsor in Camping World, a company that had already sponsored a major series for over a decade, but instead of having every car donning Camping World on the hood and side, SRX allowed other companies to sponsor guest drivers.

Denny Hamlin could race SRX with FedEx on his car. Chase Elliott could compete with Napa Auto Parts. Ryan Blaney had BodyArmor blazed across his hood. Flexibility is key for participation at this time. 

It is hard to call SRX a failure though it is taking a pause. It filled short tracks across the country and generated a genuine buzz everywhere it went. It did gather a following each summer, and we were excited for what 2024 had in store. What might be SRX's downfall is the lack of a visionary in charge.

Evernham was a founding member of SRX and a crucial member through its building year in 2020, and its first season in 2021. Once he left, Tony Stewart was the undisputed face of the series, another founding member and competitor at that. However, Stewart has many projects, from a NASCAR Cup team, to a sprint car series and team, to a foray into drag racing that will be expanding to more in 2024. 

All apologies to Don Hawk, who did a good job running SRX as CEO, but SRX needed someone who lived and breathed the series. The series got the nickname "Tony Stewart and friends" for a reason. It needed a face who was going to make sure SRX was going to see 2024. 

Considering the lack of IROC for nearly two decades, an all-star series has a place in 2024. A generation of fans don't know what it is like to have IndyCar drivers flying to Michigan or Darlington or NASCAR drivers flying to Cleveland or Mid-Ohio during the middle of a busy race weekend to compete in something else. We have become quite stale with little variation to look forward to each year. An SRX or IROC at least mixed it up and provided something different. 

But for any SRX, IROC or whatever to exist requires buy-in. There is nothing stopping NASCAR and IndyCar from supporting an all-star series that brings its best together. A television partner stepping up would help. A manufacturer getting involved would be even better. But that is not in the cards, and the little guys remain at the bottom of the hill.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Logan Seavey, but did you know...

Pascal Wehrlein won the Mexico City ePrix.

Chase Sexton won the Supercross race from San Francisco. Jordon Smith won in the 250cc West class.

Dakar Rally Update (through stage seven):

Cars: Carlos Sainz leads in his Audi by exactly 19 minutes over Sébastien Loeb with Lucas Moraes an hour and 35 seconds back in third.

Bikes: Ricky Brabec holds a one-second lead over Ross Branch. José Ignacio Cornejo is third, six minutes and 48 seconds back. Adrien Van Beveren is 14 minutes and 39 seconds behind and Kevin Benavides rounds out the top five, 24 minutes and 39 seconds off Brabec.

Quads: Manuel Andújar has a six-minute and 20-second lead over Alexandre Giroud. There is over two hours and 27 minutes between Andújar and Juraj Varga in third.

T3: Mitch Guthrie leads Cristian Gutiérrez by 33 minutes and 36 seconds. Francesco López is 40 minutes and 16 seconds back in third with Austin Jones just over an hour and 16 minutes back in fourth. 

SSV: Xavier de Soultrait has a seven-minute and 30-second lead over Yasir Seaidan with Sara Price seven minutes and 38 seconds back. João Ferreira is 11 minutes and 24 seconds back in fourth. Jérôme de Sadeleer rounds out the top five, 22 minutes and 43 seconds off de Soultrait.

Trucks: Martin Macík has an hour and 36-minute advantage over Aleš Loprais.

Coming Up This Weekend

The conclusion of the Dakar Rally as seven stages remain.

Round three for Supercross in San Diego.

Best of the Month: August 2023

The end of summer is upon us, and with it comes the end of a few motorsports seasons. Some are just getting into the second half of their seasons. There is plenty of racing left, but this time a month from now, it will start to be thinning out, and we will be at the end for a few other series. However, we will start one series that is already over.

SRX Review 3.0

We did this after the first two seasons of the Superstar Racing Experience, and keeping up with past behavior, let's look over the series once again. 

Year three felt like a watershed year of sorts for SRX. The series changed its day of racing. It changed its track strategy. It invited more active drivers. It also put its foot down and kicked a driver out of the series. 

Not much really changed in the nightly program, but the pacing felt better. I cannot explain it beyond it didn't feel like a massive lull in the order of events. There is always going to be a break between the heats and the main event, a down period where people could tune out, but it didn't feel like we had a long pause between the heats on top of the midway break. 

The races were the same level we have seen in the previous seasons. Some good. Some ok. Some forgetable. The dirt races aren't particularly that good, but I think the series had its best one yet in this year's finale at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri. 

What this series still has not figured out is balancing the championship with the guest drivers. 

There is a championship, but every year it is an afterthought until the final two races. It doesn't help that the guest drivers won two-thirds of the races. The championship is devalued when the full-time drives rarely win the races.

Everyone keeps calling SRX an exhibition, but it isn't. These races mean something, points are awarded, but considering this is a six-race season, it should probably consider something other than an aggregate to decide the championship. 

I think there is hybrid solution. 

There will always be those star names who can only commit to one or two races, but SRX does need a full-time field of drivers. It needs at least six or seven or eight drivers it can count on being there every week. 

SRX should take its six-race schedule and set the final race aside as the "Grand Final." Though I have my objections, dirt tracks are going to stay on the SRX schedule, but both should occur in the first five races with a paved track hosting the "Grand Final." Three other paved tracks fill the first five races. 

Each winner in the first five races qualify for the "Grand Final." The final seven spots in the "Grand Final" are based on points, but only the best three of the first five events count for each driver. 

1. Winning a main race would now matter.

2. It leaves the door open for a driver who only runs once or half the races an incentive to compete for something more. 

3. It allows a full-time driver lineup to compete not be completely boxed out from the championship, but those drivers would not necessarily be guaranteed a spot in the final. 

4. The points matter. You cannot just finish ninth and think that is good enough. 

In turn, the points system must change. The points for the main race can stay the same, but heat races should be bonus points. I think too many drivers ride around in the heat races, especially the first one.

For heat races, it should be five points for a win, three points for second and one point for third, no points for anyone outside the top three while the driver that passes the most cars gets three points and the driver that leads the most laps also gets three points. Drivers in the back have incentive to go forward and there is incentive to try and lead as many laps as possible. 

However, the invert for race two should be based on the starting order of race one, that way each driver gets a fair shot at the passing points and one driver isn't stuck starting third in each race and has no shot of getting those three bonus points. 

The "Grand Final" should be different from the other SRX events. The first five SRX events can be the two heats and a main format. The "Grand Final" should be a 125-lap race. No heats. No inversion. No points. After the first 60 laps, a caution comes out and the bottom three drivers are eliminated. Then there is a 50-lap segment and after that segment the bottom three are eliminated again. This sets up a 15-lap, six driver sprint to determine the winner-take-all championship. 

An SRX season is only six races, and this season Kyle Busch won two of them, Busch's only two starts. If a driver could commit to one or two regular season races and knows to keep a third date open in case they win, it could be a big shift for the series.

Plus, it would allow for a better race. We could have seen Kyle Busch take on Denny Hamlin along with Ryan Newman, Marco Andretti and Tony Stewart. Clint Bowyer likely would have qualified with his three top five finishes. It could encourage a driver to commit to a second or third race and go for the championship knowing a few good finishes could get them into the "Grand Final" even if they do not win. We would see the best in the series compete and clear out the weaker drivers.  

With this being only a six-race series and most of the drivers competing only running a race or two, SRX can do something different and have a different way to decide a champion. There is no reason to be tied a six-race aggregate and have the champion be one of seven full-time drivers, especially when most of the winners are guests. Embrace that but also make the most of it and turn it into the identity. 

We know SRX will be back. It has already announced its dates for 2024, three in July and three in August like 2023. Thunder Road International SpeedBowl in Vermont is the only known track. We will learn more as summer turns into autumn and winter. I doubt much will change with the championship format, but it is worth trying.

September Preview

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin this weekend with the Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway. Sixteen drivers are competing for that championship. Where do we stand?

William Byron and Martin Truex, Jr. begin tied on 2,036 points, each 11 points clear of Denny Hamlin. Byron led the regular season with five victories while Truex won three times. After winning three of the final five regular season races, Chris Buescher leaped up to the fourth spot on 2,021 points and he is two points ahead of Kyle Busch. Kyle Larson is sixth on 2,017 points. 

Christopher Bell has one top five finish in the last 18 races, but he is still seventh on 2,014 points, three points ahead of Ross Chastain, who has one top ten finish in the last nine races. Brad Keselowski is tenth with 2,010 points, one point ahead of Tyler Reddick. Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney are tied on 2,008 points. 

Starting the playoffs below the cutline for round one are Michael McDowell on 2,007 points, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. on 2,005 points, Kevin Harvick on 2,004 points and Bubba Wallace with 2,000 points. 

Round one will be the Southern 500 from Darlington, Kansas and Bristol. Texas, Talladega and the Charlotte roval comprise round two. The semifinal round has Las Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville with Phoenix hosting the finale for the fourth consecutive season. 

Other events of note in September:

IndyCar's final two races, Portland and Laguna Seca.

After Monza, Formula One visits Singapore and Japan. 

After Barcelona and Misano, MotoGP makes its first trip to India.

IMSA makes its Indianapolis return. 

World Superbike goes on a tour from Magny-Cours to Aragón to Portimão.

Best of the Month: July 2023

The summer flies quickly. July is about to end. The heat is stifling and the humidity suffocating. It will soon change. A month may feel like a long time but it is over in a blink. In the next one, the heat will become more favorable. It will be easier to go out, but the sunshine will continue to decrease and soon nighttime will start earlier than you will wish. 

We will start feeling the same about some of our favorite motorsports series. The races will start dwindling and the end will be closer than you wish. 

SRX's Road Course Model

With a new season of SRX underway and more current drivers competing, it has me thinking of the initial mission statement when the Superstar Racing Experience was announced during 2020. 

Co-founder Ray Evernham said when SRX was first announced the hope was to run half-mile tracks, dirt tracks and mentioned a "custom road course." 

As SRX developed, it has focused on being a short track series, and rightfully so. It has dedicated its attention on being one thing and it has worked into its third season, but this concept has potential on road courses. 

While being billed as a new take on IROC, SRX is neglecting the road course component of auto racing. To be fair, IROC did the same of the final portion of its existence. But if SRX can put together six short races and draw a dozen drivers to each one over the summer, the same could be done for road courses. 

SRX runs six weeks a year. It began in early July and ends in the middle of August. There are 46 weekends SRX is not competing. The series does work on a tight budget, and it makes it known how scarce spares are even in year three, but with the right model, a spring road course series for SRX could work. 

For starters, it could not be Thursday nights. That doesn't make any sense. However, SRX could work as a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon event attached to an already existing event. 

IndyCar has a number of road and street course events in the spring. It has St. Petersburg and Long Beach, Barber and even a race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. If bygones can be bygones and the rising the tide philosophy win out, there are a few NASCAR road course weekends SRX could add on to, most notably a weekend at Austin. It is unlikely, but there is also the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring as other events SRX could join. 

Consider if SRX tied itself to IndyCar. It could run three or four races over the space of about eight or nine weeks. It could be the Friday headliner, after IndyCar practice and the junior series, SRX could cap the day. It could run a practice session in the morning to prepare the drivers and then run in the evening, racing into sunset. 

There are plenty of road course experienced drivers competing in SRX at the moment. Marco Andretti, Paul Tracy, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Hélio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden have all competed in SRX. That is half an SRX field using current competitors alone while not forgetting Tony Stewart did quite well on road courses in his career. SRX isn't tapping into the vast depths of sports car drivers sitting on the sideline or who otherwise would be interested in competing. 

You don't think Joey Hand would be up for this? Or that Tommy Kendall and Boris Said would jump at the chance to run? Or Scott Pruett? How many active drivers would say yes like we see with IndyCar drivers? And there are still NASCAR drivers that can be called in. 

The benefit of the current NASCAR schedule is most Fridays are wide open. A driver could spend a Friday in St. Petersburg or Long Beach because they don't have to be at the Cup weekend until Saturday afternoon for a 15-minute practice session and then one lap of qualifying. Cup drivers might bite on it because when else is a Cup driver going to run Long Beach? With a street course now on the Cup schedule, this could be a great chance for a driver to get extra practice on street courses, and could give them an edge on the competition. 

SRX expansion isn't in the cards, and it would require extensive financial investment to make it happen, but it could work out with in the right minds and in the right sets of hands. Also, road and/or street courses could not be much more expensive than short ovals… unless Paul Tracy is still invited. 

More For Iowa

IndyCar's doubleheader weekend at Iowa is quite a complete weekend. Two races, four concerts, suites galore, plus an Indy Lights races. It is one of the rare three-day oval weekends for the series. It does have me wondering what else could be done to make that weekend bigger. 

I should immediately hit the brakes because there is such a thing as too much and it would be very easy to kill the Iowa weekend by trying too hard. Iowa works in its current form. The concerts are popular. The races are in strong windows that draw respectable television viewership. Change could ruin a good thing. Night races are not returning to Iowa anytime soon. However, I think there is room to do more and it begins on Friday. 

Friday is a rather slow day on the Iowa weekend. There is only one IndyCar practice session plus the Indy Lights practice and qualifying. There are no concerts, hence why it was free to attend, but I think Friday is a chance to give more to the fans, especially race fans.

With its current doubleheader format, there is one qualifying session. Each driver runs two laps. The first lap is a driver's qualifying time for race one on Saturday. The second lap is a driver's qualifying time for race two on Sunday. It is an efficient session and pretty exciting to watch. One lap could be great and then the next could be wasted. A driver could take it easy on lap one and then go all out on lap two. There are plenty of strategies and it keeps the minds churning as one qualifying has implications over two races. 

The qualifying format can stay the same at Iowa, but with this being a doubleheader, I think it opens the door for a different qualifying format. Back in 2012 and 2013, heat races were used to set the starting grid at Iowa, and I think with a doubleheader, heat races could return. 

Friday can still have a late afternoon practice. Perhaps that is shortened to an hour or 75 minutes from 90 minutes. Then in the early evening we have qualifying. Qualifying sets the grid for the Saturday race and determines who will be in the heat races.

In the previous edition of the Iowa heat races, practice was used to determine how the grid was split. The fastest eight drivers automatically qualified for the final. The odd-numbered drivers from ninth on down went to one heat. The even-number drivers from tenth on down went to another. 

In 2012, the races were only 30 laps and drivers did not advance. If a driver wasn't the top eight, the best he or she could start was on row five. In 2013, that changed and the winners from the first two heats went to the final. The distance also increased to 50 laps.

With the size of the IndyCar grid in 2023, I think the heats could be done a little differently. There were 28 cars at Iowa. My proposal would be to split the cars by seven. The fastest seven start are automatically in the A-Main. The next seven start in the B-Main. The seven after that are in the C-Main. The slowest seven start in the D-Main. 

The D-Main is a 10-lap sprint, the top three advance. The C-Main is also a 10-lap sprint, the top three advance. The B-Main is 25 laps and the top three advance to the 50-lap A-Main that decides the top ten starting positions for Sunday's race. 

It would be an event. The first two races would not take that long, but we must consider if a team went from the D-Main to the A-Main we are looking at that team putting an extra 95 laps on an engine. Those teams would definitely need at least two sets of tires. It could get expensive quickly.

However, it could be a great way to kickoff on Friday night. It could fit on Peacock without any issues. It would be different. Qualifying would be interesting as each driver would be focused on getting a good spot for Saturday but also know the difference between ending up seventh and eighth is an extra 25 laps of work. 

On top of it, because 95 laps of segmented racing would not take long at Iowa, Indy Lights should run a doubleheader as well at Iowa. There should be a 75-lap Indy Lights race on Friday as well as Saturday. 

Make Friday a big day for race fans. Have it be for them before the event gets going with the concerts on Saturday. Race fans would appreciate it. 

August Preview

We are going to give it enough coverage when it happens but the IndyCar-NASACR combination weekend from Indianapolis Motor Speedway is setting up to be a stellar event. 

The IndyCar race will be crucial to the championship. The NASCAR Cup races sees a slew of international superstars joining the grid. 

Shane van Gisbergen will be back in the #91 Trackhouse Chevrolet a little over a month after van Gisbergen won on his Cup debut on the Chicago street course. Jensen Button will also be back for another round after he ran Austin and Chicago. Button continues in the #15 Ford for Rick Ware Racing.

There will be new faces to the grid. Kamui Kobayashi will drive the #67 Toyota for 23XI Racing. Brodie Kostecki also comes over for, Supercars and the driver second in that championship will make his debut driving for Richard Childress Racing. 

It will be a full slate of top tier drivers across the multiple series competing. This is one of the best tickets in motorsports. And it will likely disappear after this year because why keep a good thing going? 

Other events of note in August:

IndyCar has two other races, Nashville and Gateway.

The NASCAR regular season will end and it is guaranteed if a driver wins a race he will clinch a playoff spot.

IMSA’s Road America round looms, which means we will likely find out the 2024 calendar. 

MotoGP has a pair of races after its extended summer break. 

Formula One will be mostly off but will return in time for Zandvoort at the end of the month. 

Musings From the Weekend: Who is SRX For? Volume II

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Max Verstappen has won six consecutive races, and he could tie the Formula One record at Zandvoort. Red Bull has won 11 consecutive races, matching the record McLaren set in 1988. The British drivers had a good home weekend. The party was spoiled in Italy. Corvette should be rather happy. Cadillac had another big accident. Mosport has some questionable barrier placement. Shane van Gisbergen returned home. There were some night races in Atlanta, and some rain. However, there are is another night race later this weekend that are on my mind.

Who is SRX For? Volume II

The 2023 Superstar Racing Experience season starts a little later than the first two seasons, but year three sees a host of changes to the short track series. A brainchild of Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham and others, SRX was introduced as an all-star series competing at local short tracks across the United States with a national television presentation. 

That continues into 2023, but this year the series moves from Saturday night events broadcasted at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CBS to Thursday night races broadcasted at 9:0 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Those aren't the only notable changes to the series. 

SRX began in 2021 with a dash of skepticism that it would work. In year one, it gained traction and respectable viewing numbers, and it had a few wonderful stories where overlooked or up-and-coming drivers such as Doug Coby, Ernie Francis, Jr., Kody Swanson and Luke Fenhaus were able to display their skills to a much larger audience and became the story of the night over NASCAR Cup champions and Indianapolis 500 winners. 

However, year three is seeing SRX shift significantly from what was celebrated in year one and became a calling card for the series. Two years after it was about to debut at Stafford Spring Speedway in Connecticut, I ask again, less than a week from the 2023 Stafford season opener, who is SRX for?

At that time, I was wondering if the appetite was there to watch what was mostly retired drivers compete against a handful of active drivers and some guests. The "retirement tour" nature of the series only continues into year three. 

Stewart continues as a driver, as does Bobby Labonte and Paul Tracy, but this season will see Ken Schrader, who last started a NASCAR Cup Series race in 2013, also compete full-time. Along with those three are the part-timer national series drivers of Ryan Newman, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay. 

Hailie Deegan returns as a full-time competitor after being part-time the previous two seasons. Deegan will run full-time simultaneously with her full-time NASCAR Truck Series commitments, and Deegan isn't the only full-time NASCAR driver signed up for all six races. Brad Keselowski will run the entire SRX slate, becoming the first active NASCAR Cup Series driver to attempt a full SRX season. 

The full-time grid is a little more balanced in terms of where drivers are in their careers, but the part-time drivers are nearly all active guests from NASCAR and IndyCar.

Stafford sees Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Kanaan on the guest list. 

Kanaan will also be attending the Thunder Road International SpeedBowl date in Barrie, Vermont along with Greg Biffle, Daniel Suárez and Kenny Wallace.

Bowyer returns for Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Fairlawn, Virginia but will have four-time Indianapolis 500 Hélio Castroneves, 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden, and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch joining the bill.

Castroneves and Busch stick around for the Berlin Raceway event in Marne, Michigan with Harvck returning and Kasey Kahne joining the fun. 

Eldora Speedway is the first of two dirt races, and the penultimate round of the season, and the guests that weekend will be Kanaan returning for his third race, Matt Kenseth, Austin Dillon and NHRA champion Ron Capps. 

Lucas Oil Speedway, a 3/8th-mile dirt oval in Wheatland, Missouri, hosts the finale and the final guests of the season will be Castroneves, Bowyer, Wallace and a returning Francis, Jr.

Those are all notable names, all with national recognition. In year three, there is no more room for the unsung hero, one of the selling points for the series in the previous two seasons. 

It is understandable what SRX is doing. It must generate viewership, and bringing in drivers with national recognition will help with viewership and keep the series alive. The series is also leaning into nostalgia with the move to ESPN and the races taking place on Thursday night, essentially reviving Thursday Night Thunder, a weekly showcase of motorsports on the ESPN platform in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Not to forget mentioning the series is almost literally riding NASCAR's coattails. 

Stafford opens the season in July 13, three days before the NASCAR Cup Series races at Loudon, New Hampshire. Four days after the Loudon Cup race, SRX is in Barre, Vermont, which is three days before NASCAR runs at Pocono. Pulaski County in Virginia kicks off the Richmond NASCAR weekend. Berlin is three days before NASCAR's only trip to Michigan International Speedway. Eldora, which is a stone throw's from the Ohio-Indiana border, is a few days before the IndyCar/NASCAR combination weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The season finale in Missouri is the only trip out of the way, taking place between the Indianapolis and Watkins Glen rounds. It is a good strategy to attract the drivers. They will be in the area and will not have to go out of the way to run SRX. Accommodating the guests is always appreciated. 

People like comparing SRX to IROC. It has similarities, but IROC took drivers at their highest level and it was an exclusive group that competed in every race. Of the 24 drivers scheduled to compete in SRX this year, 11 are not full-time in one of the premier North American series. The average age of the scheduled participants is 44.5 years old.

There is going to be an audience excited for short track racing and seeing some of these places on the national stage. It is exhilarating thinking ThunderRoad will get to host one of these races. The races could be quite good with the drivers have been brought in, but SRX was a chance to show there were quality drivers competing throughout this country that are not running in NASCAR or IndyCar. It was a chance for the little guy to get his or her shot. Moving away from that betrays the short track roots SRX claims to care about. 

The drivers brought in for season three should produce good races, and we will likely have a few memorable battles that can only be seen in SRX. Nowhere else this season will Kyle Busch be on the same track as Josef Newgarden, but the series does rely too much on Stewart's rolodex to fill the grid when it should save a few seats for the drivers that are busting their backsides and are just looking for an opportunity. If the wish for this to be an IROC-esque series then invite the champions from USAC, World of Outlaws, NASCAR Modifieds and other top tier short track drivers as well as the millionaires regularly on our television screens every weekend.

However, it is a business. 

Though the first two seasons went rather well, SRX is still trying to keep the lights on. It is dependent on drawing sponsors and covering the costs. Running any race car is not cheap, even those that only run six weekends a year exclusively on short tracks. The first two years might have had features we loved and separated it from other series, but SRX is not a charity. Profit is the bottom line.

Recognition plus nostalgia could be the recipe to greater success, but the series is forfeiting some of its identity in that chase.

Champions From the Weekend

The #33 Corvette of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nicolas Varrone clinched the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE-AM drivers with a fourth-place finish at Monza despite there being two races remaining. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Max Verstappen, but did you know...

The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López won the 6 Hours of Monza, its third victory of the season. The #28 Jota Oreca-Nissan of Pietro Fittipaldi, David Heinemeier Hansson and Oliver Rasmussen won in LMP2. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen and Julien Andluaer won in GTE-Am.

William Byron won the rain-shortened NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, his fourth victory of the season. John Hunter Nemechek won Grand National Series, his third victory of the season. Corey Heim won the Truck race at Mid-Ohio, his second victory of the season.

The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun won the IMSA race from Mosport, its second victory of the season. The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier-Nissan of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson won in LMP3, its third consecutive victory. The #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor won in GTD Pro. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won in GTD, its third victory of the season.

Frederik Vesti (sprint) and Victor Martins (feature) split the Formula Two races from Silverstone. Franco Colapinto (sprint) and Oliver Goethe (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Sheldon van der Linde and Thomas Preining split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters from Norisring.

Will Brown and Anton de Pasquale split the Supercars races from Townsville.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar makes its summer trip to Toronto. 

Formula E has its penultimate round, a doubleheader in Rome.

NASCAR moves north to Loudon, New Hampshire.

SRX operns its season at Stafford.

Super Formula is back in Fuji.

After a three-month break, the European Le Mans Series finally contests its second round of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard.

After a two-month break, the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup finally contests its second round of the season at Misano.

Best of the Month: July 2022

There are a few days left in July, but these final few days are so busy that we need to cover a few things now. 

Many championships are becoming interesting with the tide shifting in the favor of some drivers while going against others. It is becoming clear who will be fighting through the final race and who are already out of it. In some cases, championship have already been awarded or will be awarded shortly, one of each we will look at in a moment. 

August will only give us a better idea of who will be lifting silverware, but until then let's recap some of the highlights of July. 

SRX Season Two Review

Last year, we ended July reviewing the inaugural season of the Superstars Racing Experience and went over what worked and what didn't for the series. That format will work again for the 2022 season, which brought the series to four new tracks and had 11 new drivers participate this season.

However, there is still room for improvement and establishing its identity. 

What Worked?

1. It didn't change too much

    SRX has a pretty simple format. Two heats and a main race. The heats are 12 minutes each. The main event is meant to fill most of the final hour of the broadcast window while allowing for a short post-race recap and not go over. They throw competition cautions every so often to keep the field close together. They didn't expand the schedule to eight or ten races. It was six weeks, from early June through the middle of July. 

2. They visited a few new places

    Five Flags Speedway proved to be a great challenge for the drivers with tire wear. South Boston Speedway had tough racing. It was great to see Sharon Speedway get some exposure and have a local celebration for the Blaney family who call that track home. Short track racing is a tapestry of culture in this country. They all have their own intricacies. It was nice to see a few more get exposure this year. 

3. There was some familiarity.

    Marco Andretti was back for a second season, as was Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Paul Tracy and Michael Waltrip. Greg Biffle expanded to a full-time driver. Hélio Castroneves was back, albeit in a part-time role, as was Ernie Francis, Jr. Tony Kanaan competed in five of six races. You knew who you were getting and some of these guys produced good racing. 

4. There were quality new faces

    Was anyone surprised Ryan Newman joined and was a championship contender? Was anyone surprised Matt Kenseth was a threat in each of the races he participated in? Now to forget mentioning it got Josef Newgarden and Ryan Blaney as guest drivers. Credit to Team Penske for letting these guys participate and Chase Elliott came back for another season finale.

5. The racing was good

    Five Flags had Castroneves battling late model stalwart Bubba Pollard, Newman and Kanaan for victory. Stafford had a great battle between Andretti and Newman and that was followed with a great battle between Labonte, Andretti and Kenseth at the Nashville Fairgrounds. There were nights that felt slow and you weren't sure how it would be a good race and in the closing laps you were on edge seeing who would come out on top. 

What Didn't Work?

1. What is the point of side-by-side commercials if they are under caution?

    To maximize the amount of racing people see, SRX only runs commercials under caution or between races, but if they are side-by-side, two-box commercial breaks, what is the point of having them? When the side-by-side commercial was introduced on the Indy Racing League's ABC broadcasts over 15 years ago, it was done to show advertisements and keep the race on the screen allowing the viewers to still see passes, pit stops and everything that happened during a race. Using these breaks when the race is under caution is counterintuitive. 

Especially with the 12-minute heat races. Here is how television works. In one hour, a broadcast is going to take five three-minute commercial breaks. It is segment one, break one, segment two, break two, segment three, break three, segment four, break four, segment five, break five and then segment six to close the hour. That leaves 45 minutes for the actual broadcast. Divide 45 minutes of air time into six segments and you have seven minutes and 30 seconds per segment. 

The problem with SRX's 12-minute heat races is it would start them, run about four or five minutes and then throw a caution, meaning at least three minutes of those 12-minute heat races are under caution, but then it would normally take another minute after the break until it went green. This caused a few problems early on as it would get through five minutes of a race, go to commercial and then comeback and by the time it went back green, there were only two or three minutes left in the heat race. 

SRX could run a 12-minute heat race with no commercial break in-between. That requires adjusting the segments. Let's say its first segment of the show is a 14-minute block. One minute intro, right into the heat, heat race ends, one minute to vamp and then first break. Great. But that is 17 minutes of the first 60 done and there are still 12 minutes of commercial you need to fill in the final 43 minutes. This is where you get the one-minute or 90-second "dummy segments" to get to time and not run over the broadcast window.

The first half-hour would need to be 14-minute segment, break, 90-second segment, break, 90-second segment, break. There you get through three of the five breaks in the first 29 minutes and still have the first heat take place without a commercial. 

Then the final half-hour can be maybe 15 minutes for the second heat before the fourth break and at that rate you would have 13 minutes with three minutes going to the final commercial break, so ten of those minutes could be recapping the first hour. 

Pacing is the biggest weakness of SRX. It either gets through the heat races too quickly before the main event, or it takes long to get through the heat races. I am not sure what the best strategy is especially if it wants to keep this format. It could run four seven-minute heats and the show could be heat race, commercial break, heat race, commercial break, heat race, commercial break, heat race, commercial break, final segment vamping about the heat races and then the final break of the hour. 

The problem is, what do you do for each heat race? They already invert after the first race. You can't just keep inverting the field. That gets boring. It could break the field into groups and group A gets heats one and three and group B gets heats two and four. The first race for each group is set via a draw and the second race is an invert and each group sets a column of the grid. But I am not sure people want to watch six cars on track at a time. 

2. What is the point of throwing a caution with ten laps to go in the main race?

    I understand the purpose of creating a shootout at the end of the event, but I think this could be done better because the sense is drivers could ride around for the first 60 laps because they would be bunched up with ten laps to go and if they save tires they could go on a late charge. 

I think a better idea would be to split the main event and have the 60-lap first portion but after those 60 laps take the top six finishers and they go to the ten-lap "championship race." It would make the main race more interesting and give these drivers something to fight for. It would force drivers to use their tires because there is no point in riding around in ninth. You need to be in the top six. 

The second hour of the broadcast could be a five-minute reset, commercial break, five-minute feature segment, commercial break, a two-minute dummy hyping the main event, commercial break and like that you have cleared three commercial breaks in the first 21 minutes. You have cleared our 12 minutes of commercials with 39 minutes remaining and only six minutes of commercials. The main event segment could be 20 minutes before a commercial break and then the "championship race" segment that would be 13 minutes before the final commercial break takes the program off air. 

3.  The driver lineup could be better and the hometown heroes fell woefully short this year

    SRX had eight full-time drivers, which was fewer than the inaugural season and I think that hurt the series. It also didn't help that the dead weight is pretty dead. We know what Paul Tracy is going to be. It is old. Michael Waltrip is the caboose. The series would have benefitted if Matt Kenseth was full-time. 

The inaugural season did a great job giving some unsung heroes a spotlight and many took advantage of it. Doug Coby won the inaugural race in series history at Stafford. Kody Swanson was at the front of Eldora. Luke Fenhaus was the Slinger Speedway darling. Outside of Bubba Pollard, you would not be remised for not knowing the other local heroes because none of them did anything. It also didn't help that the final two events really didn't have them. Ken Schrader and Dave Blaney don't count as the hometown heroes. That is like a concert venue saying it has booked a man from Liverpool to perform and it happens to be Paul McCartney. You are not fooling anyone. 

Year one of SRX boosted Ernie Francis, Jr.'s profile and gave some other names a spotlight. Year two was too much of a market correction if it felt it gave the local guys too much of a boost in year one. Outsde of Buba Pollard, none of the hometown heroes were noticed this season. But SRX's identity should be bringing the names from the top series together with some overlooked talent. The series should be five or six national stars with four to six local stars/overlooked talent and then two or three guest drivers a week. 

It should be Andretti, Newman, Biffle, Stewart, Labonte and Kenseth taking on Coby, Pollard, Swanson, USAC champion Justin Grant, Rico Abreu, even the open-wheel and sports car likes of J.R. Hildebrand, Sage Karam, Colin Braun and James Davison would fit as full-time drivers. 

It would still be good to get another short track star as a guest driver along with active NASCAR and IndyCar drivers for each race. I feel like this is how SRX could maximize the quality of the grid while keeping the audience interested in who is competing. It was clear from year one people are interested in learning new names, especially if they are competitive.

4. Dirt is unnecessary 

    I think we have seen enough stock car racing on dirt in the last few years to say it isn't good and we can move on. The SRX races are not any different from the NASCAR Cup races and NASCAR Truck races on dirt. They are slow. They are clumsy. They aren't particularly good. 

If people like Tony Stewart wants to give dirt a national platform, get the King's Royal or the World 100 on CBS. Pay to have two or three USAC sprint car races or Silver Crown races on network television. Put the top level of dirt racing on television, not some knockoff. 

There are plenty of great pavement short tracks in this country. Only Stafford and the Nashville Fairgrounds were repeats from season one. Five Flags and South Boston were great additions. It would have been nice if Slinger returned. Salem and Winchester are two tracks that are prime for SRX, as is Anderson Speedway. Oswego Speedway and Thunder Road up in Barre, Vermont would be two other fun venues. There are plenty of options out there and they are more likely to put on respectable races than dirt. There is nothing wrong with this being entirely a pavement series. It should put on six great events at six fun venues. Would some dirt tracks lose out? Yes, but if we want to do dirt justice then we should show dirt racing at its best, and SRX isn't that. 

As for the future of SRX, I think I laid out what I would like to see from the driver lineup, schedule and the race day format. Tony Stewart said he would like to run a road course. I said it last year, a road course doesn't fit with the current format. Unless it is one the West Coast, an 8:00 p.m. ET start time does not fit the television window. A road course would also need a different format than what we see now for SRX. You also don't just rent a road course for a day to put on a race. If SRX did a road course, it would likely have to partner with IndyCar, which could work. It could likely put on a race at Mid-Ohio or Road America or even run on the streets of Detroit or streets of Toronto. I am not sure if SRX is up for that but it is its best option. 

5. The Championship Confusion

    Though mislabel as an exhibition, SRX does award a championship, but it doesn't do a great job keeping up on the points until we get to the end. 

This season, Marco Andretti won the title by two points over Ryan Newman, the only problem is when every tabulated the points from the heat races and main events, Newman came out on top by a point. Lost in the discussion was Andretti was awarded three points because of a positioning error in the first round of the season at Five Flags Speedway. 

Andretti was called into pit lane for repairs ahead of a heat race. When the race was ready to resume, Andretti had not been properly placed. Afterward, the SRX officials told the drivers ahead of the second race at South Boston it would award Andretti three points to make up for the error. From reports, the drivers agreed that was the fair thing to do. 

Flash-forward to the season finale and those three points were the difference in the championship. 

An easy way to show you are serious about the championship is to take it seriously. If there was a scoring issue, be transparent and tell everyone. If the series has taken steps to rectify a mistake, let us know. Shout it from the hilltops. Keep everyone updated on the championship during each broadcast. Also, make sure all cars are properly lined up for heat races.

These are little things, and worst of all, SRX is the only one in the way. There aren't inspection penalties, there aren't loose lug nuts, there aren't expensive video monitor systems on pit lane for pit stops, and there aren't teams spending millions and millions of dollars in the wind tunnel to improve the cars and get an advantage over the other competitors. The house controls everything. It should have a handle from top to bottom. 

All these issues fall at SRX's feet and it is on them to make sure everyone is aware of the championship and who stands where and why. If they want to take it serious by all means they can start next year and avoid repeating the errors of 2022. 

Let's see what is done and learned for season three. 

Discipline Bonuses

I spent July focused on the Tour de France and there is a lot in cycling that relates to motorsports. From the teamwork to the strategies to mechanical issues and drafting, the two are much more similar than you think. 

One item I like about the Tour de France is there are multiple competitions going on at once. You have the general classification for the rider with the lowest aggregate time over the course of the Tour (yellow jersey). You have the green jersey, which is the points classification and those points are awarded for running position at an intermediate sprint held at some point over the course of a stage and for the finishing position in the stage. And then you have the polka dot jersey for the mountain classification, which awards points to the riders as they reach summits over the course of a stage with the point totals increasing depending on steepness of the climb. 

With multiple competitions for a variety of skills, cycling isn't any different than IndyCar. For a short period, IndyCar acknowledged the top driver in points for road/street courses and ovals. The official award didn't last long, but we still keep up on it. The one issue with IndyCar's discipline championships is they didn't pay anything extra. There was no prize for topping either. It was all for pride. Pride doesn't pay the bills in IndyCar. 

But, because IndyCar is too poor for monetary prizes, what if topping a discipline championship earned a driver bonus points to the overall championship? 

I think IndyCar could break it down by ovals, natural-terrain road courses and street courses and each discipline could carry a 50-point bonus to the top driver in each classification. To keep drivers fighting on each discipline, bonus points could be paid to the top five in each category. Second could get 25 points, third could get 15 points, fourth could get ten points and fifth could get five points. 

How would this change a championship? 

In 2021, the top five drivers in oval points were Patricio O'Ward (192 points), Josef Newgarden (158 points), Álex Palou (155 points), Simon Pagenaud (144 points) and Scott Dixon (135 points).

On road courses the order was Palou (272), Romain Grosjean (204), Colton Herta (197), Marcus Ericsson (190) and Dixon (189).

And on street circuits, Herta led the way with 206 points followed by Newgarden (191), Ericsson (177), Dixon (170) and Will Power (154).

Palou would have picked up 65 bonus points, as would have Herta. O'Ward would have gotten 50 points for topping the road course category while Newgarden scored 50 points for being second in ovals and street courses. Grosjean would get 25 points, as would Ericsson. Dixon would have been the only driver to score in all three categories, but he would have only picked up 20 points. Pagenaud would get ten points and Power would get five. 

It wouldn't have changed the champion in 2021, as Palou would have scored more than his title rivals, but this is what the standings would have looked like: 

Palou - 614

Newgarden - 561

O'Ward - 537

Herta - 520

Dixon - 501

Ericsson - 460

Pagenaud - 393

Rahal - 389

Power - 361

Rossi - 332

It would have only changed a few positions. Herta and Dixon would swap, as would Pagenaud and Rahal. It wouldn't have changed much and it would have been even more in Palou's favor. I am open to IndyCar trying new things increasing competition within the championship. The discipline bonus would make each race mean a little more and two races would become even more crucial as the final oval race and final street course race would mean one driver would at least clinch a 50-point bonus. That could swing a champion and put more pressure on other drivers. 

I don't think IndyCar should be afraid to embrace what makes it different and apply to its championship. It would only force the drivers to increase their performances and bring more out of the entire field.

August Preview

The Formula E season is nearing its conclusion, and as much as we are calling this an August preview, it should be noted the penultimate Formula E round is this weekend in London, which is a doubleheader, before the Seoul hosts a doubleheader to finish the season on August 13-14. 

With 116 points left on the table, 13 drivers are still alive for the championship. 

Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne leads the way with 155 points. Vandoorne's only victory was at Monaco but he has six podium results from 12 races and he has scored in 11 of 12 events. Eleven points back is Venturi's Edoardo Mortara, who has won twice and has five podium finishes, but Mortara has two retirements. Mitch Evans has the most victories, three, but Evans is 16 points back after having failed to score in three races driving for Jaguar. 

Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Éric Vergne failed to score in either Brooklyn race after picking up points in the first ten races. Vergne is 27 points back and the Techeetah driver is the top winless driver in the championship. Envision Racing's Robin Frijns is also winless and Frijns is 51 points behind Vandoorne. António Félix da Costa picked up his first victory of the season in the most recent race. Da Costa is 55 points back, and just inside where he will need to be to remain mathematically eligible for the championship entering Seoul. All drivers will need to be within 58 points of the championship lead after London to have a shot at the title. 

Lucas di Grassi has 84 points. Defending Formula E champion Nyck de Vries has won twice, but those are the Dutchman's only top five finishes this season and he has 83 points. The Porsche drivers Pascal Wehrlein and André Lotterer round out the top ten, tied on 63 points with Porsche's only podiums being its 1-2 finish in Mexico City with Wehrlein ahead of Lotterer. 

Nick Cassidy won the first Brooklyn and he is tied with Jake Dennis and Sam Bird on 47 points, the final three drivers still alive for the championship. 

In the Teams' Championship, Mercedes leads with 238 points, ten more than Venturi and Techeetah. Jaguar is 52 points back. Envision is 87 points back. Porsche is the final team alive, 112 points off its German rival. Andretti Autosport was one point shy of remaining mathematically eligible. With 188 points left on the table, Andretti is 189 points off Mercedes entering London. 

Other events of note in August

MotoGP returns with the British Grand Prix before racing in Austria.

Two IndyCar races, Nashville and Gateway. 

Two IMSA races, Road America and Virginia International Raceway for GT only.

Two MotoGP races, Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring. 

Formula One is mostly on break but returns for the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28. 

NASCAR concludes its regular season at Michigan, Richmond, Watkins Glen and Daytona.

Best of the Month: May 2022

The end of May is always a sentimental part of the year. It is beautiful outside, but we have cleared a milestone for the year. The Indianapolis 500 is over. A few other major events remain and basically every championship is undecided, but it is sad when Indianapolis is behind you. We have to wait another 11 months before we are back again. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the home for all that was good this May, and this Best of the Month celebrates some key, but possibly overlooked moments at the corner of 16th and Georgetown. 

Power's Poles

William Steven Power took one step closer to IndyCar history earlier this month with his pole position in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Power now has 64 pole positions, three shy of tying Mario Andretti's record. Last year, Power only won one pole position and he is 41 years old, so the record is not inevitably going to be his, but the odds are still considerably in his favor. 

We lose vision of what Power is approaching. These aren't race victories, but pole positions are not much easier to win. It requires the car being setup close to perfection and then nailing the lap, hitting the limit and never going over it. It is a matter of timing, taking to the track at the right point on a road/street course, and making sure to have the best track conditions for your flyer. There is also timing when you start a lap to make sure no other competitor can top your run. 

With the current road/street course qualifying format, it is three rounds of facing those challenges. You need to be great just to advance from round one and you are still a round away from getting a shot at topping the grid. 

Power regularly has pulled out time from nowhere. There have been plenty of qualifying session where Power appears to be set to get knocked out in round two, only for him to scratch through by a fraction of a second and then smack one out of the park and leave the field stunned in the final round. 

There is no one close to matching Power's ability in IndyCar, and arguably there is no one else in the world of motorsport in his zip code. 

With Power flirting with a record, we need perspective on where he stands compared to the rest of the field. 

Power has 64 pole positions from 258 opportunities. Remember, he won pole position for a race he didn't even start back at St. Petersburg in 2016, hence more opportunities than starts. His batting average is 0.248. Hélio Castroneves and Scott Dixon have both made more starts than Power, around a hundred more starts for each. Castroneves has 50 pole positions in 363 opportunities and Dixon has 29 in 358 opportunities (remember qualifying for infamous 2001 Texas CART race remained in the record book). They are batting 0.137 and 0.081 respectively. 

Neither Castroneves nor Dixon are going to contend for the record, but what about a younger driver? Is there anyone who could possibly chase down Power 15 or 20 years from now or is at least matching Power's pace?

Among active drivers born since 1990, Josef Newgarden leads the way with 15 pole positions, but Newgarden has made 170 starts. That is an average of 0.088, basically in Dixon's range. For Newgarden to reach 68 pole positions at his current rate, he would need to make 762 starts! Mario Andretti's record for most starts is 407. 

Even if Newgarden won every pole position for the rest of the season, his average would only get up to 0.1436, slightly better than Castroneves. He would have 26 pole positions from 181 starts, and even at the rate of a pole position every seventh race, it would still take Newgarden until about his 473 starts to get to 68 pole positions. 

Colton Herta already has eight pole positions, and he is only 22 years old. Time is on Herta's side but eight pole positions in 54 starts has his average at 0.14814 starts. At that rate, Herta would reach 68 pole positions around his 459th start, 52 starts more than Andretti's record. If Herta remains in IndyCar and if he makes an average of 17 starts a season, he would reach his 459th start late in the 2045 season! He would only be 45 years old, just shy of 46. Tony Kanaan and Hélio Castroneves are both 47 years old and still competing in IndyCar. 

It is not impossible for Herta, but still unlikely. Let's see how the 2030s go before we start taking this seriously. 

As for other drivers, no one is worth mentioning. 

Patricio O'Ward has four pole positions in 44 starts (0.0909), Alexander Rossi has six pole positions in 103 starts (0.0582), and Rinus VeeKay has two in 35 starts (0.0571).

If the record does become Power's, he will be able to put his feet up and relax. Nobody will be touching him for quite some time.

Speed Draws

The qualifying speeds weren't the only thing up at Indianapolis this year. The interest in qualifying was as well. 

Viewership for Sunday's Indianapolis 500 qualifying session on NBC was up over 40% from NBC's 2021 Indianapolis 500 qualifying coverage. Some of that could be because of Jimmie Johnson. Johnson made the Fast 12 and had a shot at pole position. I am not sure how many percentage points Johnson is adding to a broadcast rating, but it is not 40%, especially for qualifying. 

I think with the buzz of practice week and Saturday's qualifying session, people were expecting big times, and Scott Dixon's pole position run of 234.046 mph was the second fastest qualifying run in the history of the event. Everyone got what they came for.

And viewers didn't just show up in front of their television screen, they were at the track. The Sunday crowd was good compared to previous qualifying days. 

For too damn long, IndyCar was in the mid-220s, flirting with the high 220s, and that was seen as acceptable. Laps of 220 mph are quick, no bones about it, but when you have seen 230 mph and felt that rush, you are shorting everyone accepting slower times. 

We have finally got back into the 230-range and are now running some of the fastest times ever. It has been a long wait to see these kind of qualifying runs again, but this is what gets people's attention. These are bonkers runs. Only the best drivers can pull these off, and better yet we are pushing the boundaries again. 

Arie Luyendyk's four-lap record of 236.986 mph was an aberration in 1996, a misdirection of where IndyCar was in the 1990s when the split occurred. Everyone was creeping to the 233-mph territory and Luyendyk leaped to another galaxy with his record run. 

We haven't even explored the 234-range and now we are there. We are going to see if anyone can get back there in 2023, and if they can how far can they climb? The track record is still safe, but we are in the neighborhood. We are seeing the bar raised, and when you consider from 2019 to 2020 over two miles per hour was found and from 2021 to 2022 nearly 2.5 miles per hour were found, I think it is healthy to wonder if a new track record will be possible soon. 

We are not going to see a sellout on pole day like it is the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, but if a track record is possible, people are going to show up. We are approaching 30 years since it was set. People will want to be there to see it fall. IndyCar has to realize what it is approaching and not be afraid to push that boundary.

Should Johnny Aitken Be Nervous?

Speaking of records, for the first time in my life I am considering Johnny Aitken's record of 15 Indianapolis Motor Speedway victories in jeopardy. And it is all because of Alex Quinn.

Quinn showed up to the U.S. F2000 weekend during the Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend and swept all three races on his debut weekend. Three starts, three victories. 

With the increase of competitions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I think Aitken's 15 victories is reachable. 

Quinn has three victories. If a driver starts at the bottom of the Road to Indy, competes in all three series, and works his or her way to IndyCar, he or she will make at least eight starts at IMS before even driving an IndyCar and IndyCar currently has three races at the speedway. 

Let's take into consideration Kyle Kirkwood won all seven starts he made at Mid-Ohio in his Road to Indy career. Why couldn't that happen for a driver on the IMS road course? A driver could be about halfway to the record in junior series competition alone. Then that driver could get to IndyCar and have a 15-year IndyCar career and could possibly make 45 starts at the track between the Indianapolis 500 and the road course races. 

Will Power is one of seven drivers with at least six IMS victories, all in an IndyCar, and five of those are on the road course. If a kid is lights out in the Road to Indy and then replicates Will Power's career, 16 victories is possible. 

Will we see it? We will have to wait, just as we will have to wait to see if anyone can catch Power if Power sets the pole position record. Next year will be the tenth edition of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The Road to Indy has supported it the entire time. In next ten years, we could see someone challenging that record. 

Colton Herta won twice in Indy Lights on the road course, the Freedom 100 once and he just won his first Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Patricio O'Ward won twice at IMS in Indy Pro 2000. Someone is going to reach ten IMS victories eventually, and then we will have a deeper discussion about the record, but we should keep it in mind.

June Preview

This June sees the return of last year's breakout series. The Superstar Racing Experience is back!

SRX will have another six-race championship running on a selection of short tracks around the United States of both the paved and dirt variety. 

What is different this year?

There are four new tracks starting with the season opener on June 18 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. On June 25, the series visits South Boston Speedway in Virginia for the first time. 

The middle third of the season are the two returning tracks. Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut hosts round three on July 2 ahead of the Nashville Fairgrounds on July 9.

The final two races of the season are the dirt races. I-55 Raceway in Missouri hosts the penultimate round on July 16 before Sharon Speedway in Ohio hosts the season finale on July 23. 

Who is driving?

There will be more drivers this season, but fewer full-time drivers, as only eight are signed up for the full season. 

Tony Stewart will be back to defend his championship while race winner Marco Andretti returns as well. Bobby Labonte, Paul Tracy and Michael Waltrip are all back as full-timers. 

There are three new full-timers. Greg Biffle made two SRX starts last year and was runner-up in the Stafford season opener. Biffle will run the full season. Ryan Hunter-Reay joins the series after spending the previous 15 seasons in IndyCar. Ryan Newman joins the SRX after stepping away from NASCAR Cup Series competition. 

For the rest of the grid, it will be easier to go round-by-round to see who is signed up, as we may see the largest grid in SRX history at one event this season.

Five Flags: Tony Kanaan, Bill Elliott, Ernie Francis, Jr., Bubba Pollard

Kanaan will run five of six events in 2022, while Elliott and Francis, Jr. were full-time in 2021, but each will only run two races in 2022. Francis, Jr. is full-time in Indy Lights this year. Pollard, a highly successful super late model driver, will be the guest driver.

South Boston: Kanaan, Francis, Jr., Hélio Castroneves, Peyton Sellers

Castroneves was fifth in the SRX championship last year, and he will run three races in 2022. Sellers is a six-time South Boston Speedway track champion and a two-time NASCAR Weekly Series champion.

Stafford: Castroneves, Elliott, Hailie Deegan, Matt Hirschman

Deegan was part-time in 2021 and she will run twice in 2022 combined with her NASCAR Truck Series responsibilities. Hirschman won the Spring Sizzler modified race at Stafford in April to earn this guest driver spot.

Nashville: Kanaan, Castroneves, Josef Newgarden, Matt Kenseth, Cole Williams

The first SRX race with 13 drivers entered on paper. Newgarden makes his lone appearance in his hometown race, while Kenseth makes his first of three SRX appearances. Williams is a regular competitor at the Nashville Fairgrounds and won a fan vote to receive the guest driver spot. 

I-55: Kanaan, Deegan, Kenseth, Ken Schrader

Schrader makes his SRX debut after being one of the test drivers for the series in 2021. I-55 Raceway is Schrader's home track and Schrader is a co-owner of the track.

Sharon: Kanaan, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Dave Blaney

The SRX finale sees the 2021 Nashville finale winner Elliott return while the Blaneys will have a home race as the family owns part of Sharon Speedway.

Twenty-three drivers are signed up to compete in at least one SRX event this year. Nineteen drivers competed in the entire 2021 season. 

One subtle note ahead of the 2022 SRX season is Ray Evernham is no longer involved with the series after being one of the co-founders and designing the car. 

Other Notable Events in June:

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is back in June!

IndyCar has two races, Belle Isle and Road America, before a mini-summer break. 

NASCAR visits Gateway for the first time with the Cup Series and has Sonoma before its one off-week midseason. 

Formula One will go from Azerbaijan to Canada because that is sensible schedule.

MotoGP has races in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. 

The 69th Safari Rally takes place.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters visits Imola for the first time. 

IMSA closes the month with the 6 Hours of the Glen.

2021 Motorsports Christmas List

Christmas is coming up this weekend and we must hand out some presents! Many had better years in 2021 than 2020, but everyone needs something to make their lives a little better. Though life might still be unsettled, this is a chance to find some joy and celebrate what we have. 

There are many people who need something, whether they know it or not, whether they will say they need it or not say a thing. This is our chance to give out items even if they were not asked for. Why wait any longer? 

Let's see what is around the Christmas tree!

To Kyle Larson: People not asking him if he is going to run the Indianapolis 500. Come on, people! The answer is no.

To Jimmie Johnson: Two co-drivers for an IMSA Endurance Cup effort. How about Joey Hand and Juan Pablo Montoya?

To Álex Palou: Just a sliver of notoriety in the United States. He may be from Spain, but Palou is one of the most affectionate drivers in the world and IndyCar should not let his nationality be a deterrent. He has the personality the series needs from a top driver.

To Scott Dixon: A moratorium on people writing the "Is Scott Dixon Done?" articles and columns for at least all of 2022.

To Tony Kanaan: A Ganassi fifth car for all the ovals. Let's give him one final trip to Texas, Iowa and Gateway.

To Marcus Ericsson: A few more rabbit's feet, because he can't count on being any luckier in 2022 than he was in 2021.

To Alexander Rossi: A few IndyCar victories, just to shut people up. 

To Colton Herta: Timely cautions in his favor and sturdy driveshafts.

To Hélio Castroneves: A three-place bump to his road/street course qualifying results. He is going to need it. 

To Simon Pagenaud: No mistakes doing laundry now that he will be with Meyer Shank Racing and have more pink apparel. 

To Sébastien Bourdais: A four-year commitment that Chip Ganassi Racing will take him to Le Mans starting in 2023 with LMDh.

To Romain Grosjean: DHL sponsorship for the next five years.

To Kyle Kirkwood: A guarantee that he will spend at least the next five years in IndyCar and most of those years will to be with A.J. Foyt Racing. 

To Oliver Askew: Respectable Formula E results and a part-time IndyCar seat. 

To Patricio O'Ward: Justifiable promotion in Mexico and to the Hispanic-American population. IndyCar seriously does not understand what a gem O'Ward is and is going to blow growing its fanbase.

To Felix Rosenqivst: His 2019 IndyCar season in a bottle.

To Josef Newgarden: No opening lap spins.

To Will Power: Somehow, he needs fewer mechanical issues again this year! 

To Will Power and Scott McLaughlin: A Bathurst 1000 wild card entry.

To Scott McLaughlin: Better friends taking him to NFL games.

To Rinus VeeKay: More consistent results.

To J.R. Hildebrand: A chance in the IndyCar broadcast booth.

To James Hinchcliffe: A GTD-Pro ride with Pfaff Motorsports. If there is any driver that should drive a plaid Porsche, isn't it Hinchcliffe?

To Jack Harvey: A box of chocolates. He is just a good guy. He deserves some sweets. 

To Graham Rahal: A few days off at home.

To Christian Lundgaard: A stomach strong enough to handle American cuisine, especially if he lives in Indiana.

To Callum Ilott: Formula One teams not forgetting he exists.

To David Malukas: A rookie season that matches some of Dale Coyne's other recent rookies.

To Takuma Sato: A trip to Le Mans with the Acura LMDh program. 

To Charlie Kimball: A car specifically built and trimmed for the Indianapolis 500.

To Mazda: Enough funding to continue in IMSA in 2022 and pursue an LMDh program.

To Corvette: Favorable Balance of Performance in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

To Marc Márquez: Full fitness.

To the other three Honda MotoGP riders: A bike they can handle.

To Valentino Rossi: A GT3 program that includes starts at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Bathurst 12 Hour, 24 Hours of Spa and a European Le Mans Series GTE program to boot.

To KTM: Civility among its four MotoGP riders. Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández could be a dangerous teammate pairing and not for the right reasons.

To Fabio Quartararo: Better chest protectors. 

To Franco Morbidelli: All his bones remaining in one piece.

To Andrea Dovizioso: A comeback season for the history book.

To the motorcycle community: An Isle of Man TT. We have been waiting.

To Suzuki: Riders staying upright more often. 

To Darryn Binder: Better corner entry judgment. 

To Johann Zarco: His first career MotoGP victory. He deserves it. 

To Aprilia: The best of Maverick Viñales. 

To Jack Miller: No long-lap penalties.

To Francesco Bagnaia: Keeping the tires on the track when it matters most.

To MotoGP: A race at Barber Motorsports Park. This is going to be on this list every year until it happens. 

To Toprak Razgatlioglu: A MotoGP opportunity before too much time passes.

To Jonathan Rea: A MotoGP opportunity now. Who cares how old he is? Let's give him a shot!

To Liam Lawson: Better sportsmanship from his competitors.

To Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters: A return to Brands Hatch and a visit to Anderstrop, two of the races from the original 2020 schedule that didn't happen.

To Oscar Piastri: Alpine dropping some dough to get him a handful of IndyCar races. If Alpine is funding part of Christian Lundgaard's IndyCar program, the least it can do is get Piastri a few real races in 2022.

To Shane van Gisbergen: Safe bike rides.

To Brad Keselowski: Aspirin.

To Kevin Harvick: A victory with some help from teammate, maybe holding up a driver from a certain Chevrolet team. 

To Kyle Busch: Sponsorship that will keep him happy from 2023 onward.

To Denny Hamlin: A psychologist. 

To Bubba Wallace: Social media platforms going extinct. 

To Harrison Burton: No comparisons to his successor. 

To Joey Logano: Less than six months between victories.

To Kurt Busch: More sports car opportunities.

To Erik Jones: A larger bookshelf. 

To Daniel Hemric: A second NASCAR Grand National Series victory.

To Kaz Grala: A full-time NASCAR Grand National Series entry. If Landon Cassill is getting one, why not Grala? 

To Andy Lally: Ideal conditions in his handful of NASCAR starts.

To Gateway Motorsports Park: Its NASCAR Cup race being a night race.  

To Texas Motor Speedway: Starting over. I am serious. Let's bulldoze most of it, if not all of it, and try again. Let's take a year or two off and then come back in 2025 with a better racetrack. 

To Doug Coby: Full-time NASCAR Truck Series season with a few short track races in NASCAR's second division. 

To SRX: An even better second season but remaining true to work in season one. Keep it short, keep it on short tracks and attract a few more contemporary drivers and not as many retired out of race shape drivers.

To IMSA officials: A few new whistles because they swallow their previous ones during the final lap at Petit Le Mans.

To IMSA: A sensical points system.

To Ricky Taylor: Not being blocked at the least opportune time or at least getting the officials to call a block when he has been blocked.

To Jordan Taylor: A proper NASCAR Cup ride on road courses. It is bullshit it hasn't happened already.

To A.J. Allmendinger: Better results in October and November. February through September he has down pat. Just those two months.

To Virginia International Raceway: A return of IMSA's top prototype class.

To Mazda MX-5 Cup: A few races on network television. People would love it! 

To James Davison: A quality ride somewhere. Something that at least matches his talent.

To Formula One: Competent race control and fewer red flags.

Also To Formula One: Realizing sprint qualifying isn't as good as it is being made out to be.

To American Formula One fans: A television partner that brings its own Formula One analysis and does more than simulcast Sky Sports' coverage. It is good to have more voices in the room.

To NASCAR: Realizing it owns a short track, it is called Iowa Speedway, and giving that a Cup race.

To Indianapolis Raceway Park: A NASCAR Grand National Series race. By the way, how the fuck did we allow 11 years to go by between NASCAR national series races at IRP? How stupid are the people in charge that they let such a thing happen? Morons. 

To Dane Cameron: More respect for his talent level.

To Felipe Nasr: A one-off IndyCar race with Team Penske at Road America.

To JDC-Miller Motorsports: More than one good race. 

To Jack Hawksworth: Assigned as the lead driver for Toyota's IndyCar return.

To Bill Aubelen and Robby Foley: Contact that goes in their favor. 

To Tommy Milner: No one ever calling him Tommy Milner, Jr. 

To Chip Ganassi Racing's sports car program: No tire punctures in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

To Kamui Kobayashi: A Super Formula race victory.

To Gabby Chaves: Reminders to the top teams in Daytona Prototype international and IndyCar that he still exists. 

To Spencer Pigot: The same thing Gabby Chaves is getting. 

To FIA World Endurance Championship: Compelling racing in its professional classes.

To Peugeot: Counterpunches that land on Toyota.

To Ferrari: No delays or hiccups in its Hypercar development.

To Gustavo Menezes: Becoming the first American to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall since 1996. 

To Glickenhaus: A full-time WEC effort.

To Pipo Derani: A full FIA World Endurance Championship season along with his full IMSA season.

To the Indianapolis 8 Hours: Roger Penske embracing it. Also, America's top GT3 teams embracing it as well. 

To Team WRT: Success in the United States.

To SportsCar 365: A revival of The Double Stint podcast. It was quite a good show, an informative and concise chat about sports car racing each week. 

To Ryan Hunter-Reay: One final full season in IndyCar.

To Ed Carpenter: Committing to two full-time drivers for his IndyCar team while accepting an oval-only or Indianapolis 500-only program for himself.

To Marco Andretti: More races, but if he is happy doing what he is doing, he could re-gift those to someone else.

To Ernie Francis, Jr.: Five-year commitment to open-wheel racing.

To Kaulig Racing; A guarantee that all sponsorship payment checks clear.

To Martin Truex, Jr. and Christopher Bell: Soft landing spots for whenever either is kick out of Joe Gibbs Racing for Ty Gibbs. 

To Ty Gibbs: A year off to see the world, talk to some different people, see some different cultures, learn a few things. 

To John Hunter Nemechek: Someone at Toyota looking out for him. 

To Austin Cindric: A deep playoff run.

To Chase Briscoe: A firm understanding of NASCAR's cutting the course rules on road courses, because he is the only one who seemed not to understand it. 

To Alex Bowman: More top ten finishes.

To Ryan Blaney: A better sense of humor. 

To Tyler Reddick: A move to a bigger and better team.

To Road Atlanta: A NASCAR weekend. We don't need a second weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

To Dover International Speedway: A promise that Speedway Motorsports, Inc. doesn't screw it up. 

To World Rally Championship: A close championship possibly involving multiple drivers named Sébastien.

To Spa-Francorchamps: Ten years without rain on Belgian Grand Prix race day. 

To Max Verstappen: Humility. 

To Lewis Hamilton: A few timely virtual safety cars.

To Fernando Alonso: Esteban Ocon coming to his aid. 

To Daniel Ricciardo: That better second year he has regularly had.

To Yuki Tsunoda: Acceptance that his Formula One career could be over before he is 23 years old.

To Lando Norris: Intuition to stop for wet weather tires a lap before everyone else. 

To Nicholas Latifi: Anonymity. 

To Kimi Räikkönen: Peace and quiet. 

To Pietro Fittipaldi: A full-time ride somewhere! Stop wasting your time as a Formula One reserve driver for a team that will never give you the full race seat! 

To Race of Champions: Kyle Larson blowing off the Clash to race on ice in Sweden and Lewis Hamilton deciding he needs a Swedish holiday as well and competes. 

To Formula E: A compelling championship that does not require a convoluted qualifying format.

To Oliver Turvey: Any ride he wants in the world of motorsports. He cannot be thrilled running at the back for NIO in every race.

Also To Oliver Turvey: Patience with his new teammate.

To Mitch Evans: Perfect launches from every start next season.

To New Zealand: An FIA Grade 1 circuit, but one with legitimate grass runoff, that can host Formula One, WEC, IndyCar and any other major motorsports series. It deserves it. 

To Carlos Sainz, Jr.: Long-term commitment from Ferrari. How is this guy already on the fence? And he beat Charles Leclerc in the championship! 

To George Russell: Some thick skin. 

To Sergio Pérez: His best race coming in Mexico City. 

To Valtteri Bottas: More rallying opportunities.

To Sebastien Vettel: Sufficient fuel levels the next time he finishes on the podium. 

To Mick Schumacher: A few good days that go with his talent. 

To Every Formula One Circuit: Adequate grass runoff on the edge of the circuit. 

To the Bathurst 12 Hour: A healthy grid with drivers from all around the globe. 

To Supercars: Fewer border restrictions.

To Canada: A Canadian Grand Prix. We are missing Montreal. 

To Super Formula: A few more international drivers. 

To Phillip Island: MotoGP and World Superbike weekends. Another track that has been gone for too long due to the pandemic.   

To the inaugural Miami Grand Prix: Suitable support races. North American grand prix weekends have underwhelming support races. We can do so much better.

To the Bahrain Grand Prix: Moving to the perimeter circuit. Mind as well do something different. 

To the Asian Le Mans Series: A return to the Pacific region. 

To Nyck de Vries: A Formula One ride so the world can have a Dutchman to root for.

To Fontana: Remaining a two-mile oval. It sounds like everyone is getting cold feet over the re-configuration. Just leave it how it is then. Plus, I don't think NASCAR know what it wants to do. 

To Alex Zanardi: A full recovery.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. What an odd year this has been? The quintessential example of two steps forward and one step back. We have come a long way from last Christmas, and yet this Christmas feels like it has circled back to where we were a year ago. This year had many positives. It felt more normal, arguably was close to normal, but we didn't quite get fully back there. It was better than 2020, but that wasn't going to be that hard to accomplish. And yet here we are, uncertain and clueless about what will happen next. 

But there is plenty to be encouraged about and 2022 should be better. Positivity will take us a long way. Most importantly, stay safe, stay healthy and enjoy this time with friends and family.